Support grows to eliminate Cuba embargo

May 2, 2009

Freedom New Mexico

Perhaps the most significant sign that U.S. policy toward Cuba might change beyond the lifting of restrictions on how often Cuban-Americans can travel to Cuba or how much money they can send to relatives there lies not in how enthusiastically President Obama shook somebody’s hand at a Latin-American summit — but in changing attitudes among Cuban-Americans themselves.

The Cuban American National Foundation has for decades been a guardian of a hard-line policy toward Castroite Cuba, emphasizing a tight economic embargo and restrictions that amount to isolating Cuba from the United States. Since it was initially formed by refugees who fled Cuba beginning in the early 1960s, it is not surprising its agenda was centered around continuing hostility to Fidel Castro.

Just before President Obama announced a modest liberalization of restrictions on contact with Cuba, the CANF issued a statement saying it was ready to consider steps toward increasing contacts with Cuba and might even be open to reconsidering the economic embargo first imposed by President John F. Kennedy.

Last month Bendixen & Associates, which has been polling the Cuban-American community for 15 years, announced results of a new poll showing this attitude is now widely shared. It found